William Long, a son of John and Mary Long, who were of German decent, was born in Lancaster county, Penn., in 1807.  Coming to Illinois in 1835 he settled in Bear Creek township where he resided for ten years.  He then came to the place where he died.  He was married in 1830 to Mary Yetter, who lived only about five years after their marriage.  He was married a second time in 1839 to Mary Giphart who died in 1872.  Mr. Long had two children by his first wife of whom one is living, Livi [sic], and in whose family the old gentleman found an affectionate and painstaking home.  Uncle Billy Long, as he was familiarly addressed, was an honest and upright citizen.  In Pennsylvania he was a member of the Lutheran church, and which profession he maintained by a consistent life to his death.  He was a very quiet and peaceful man and as he lived so he died.  It was known that at one o'clock in the morning he was asleep and breathed naturally, and at day-light he was found dead in his bed.  He died Jan. 26, 1886.  His age was 78 years, 4 months and 6 days.

Funeral services were conducted at the house and the Yetter grave yard by Rev. C. Kuhl, attended by an immense concourse of people.

Gregg History of Hancock County, Illinois, 1880
Hancock Township, page 681

William Long, an aged and respectable man and a very old settler of Hancock county, the son of John and Mary Long, who were of German descent, was born in 1807 in Penn.  Coming to Illinois in 1835, he settled in Bear Creek township, where he resided ten years; then came to the place on which he now lives on sec. 8.  He was married in 1830 to Mary Yetter, who lived only about five years after their marriage.  He was married the second time in 1839, to Mary Giphart, who died in 1872.  Mr. L. had, by his first wife, 2 children, of whom one is living, whose name is Levi, and who is now living with his father, on his farm.  Mr. L. owns the land on which he is living, consisting of 160 acres, of which 100 acres are pretty well improved; 60 acres are brush.  He has also 40 acres of timber on sec. 17 of same township.  He is an honest and upright citizen, a devoted member of the Lutheran Church, and had poor advantages for obtaining an education when young. He was, at one time, Collector for five or six years; was Assessor one year; Justice of the Peace for four years, and was Township Trustee for 15 years.  Mr. L., although he is, in fact, politically a Democrat, is very liberal in his political views concerning home affairs.

He and Mary Yetter married in 1830 and in 1835 came to Hancock County, Illinois, settling in the area that was eventually named Bear Creek Township. Mary reportedly died the same year.  Five years later, William moved to Hancock Township, where he would live out his life.

Excerpted from an essay written and shared by Cora R. Swift:

Mary Yetter was born the 12th of May 1812 in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and was the youngest child of John and Barbara Yetter.  There were ten children in the family, seven brothers and two sisters.  Mary was raised in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania and married William Long on the 16th of September 1830.  Her father passed away in 1814 when Mary was only two years old, and left her mother to raise the family. . . . . Her mother's will states that she left all her worldly possessions to her daughter, Mary, and her husband, William Long, for caring for her in her final years.  She died in 1833 and so Mary and her husband must have then decided to come to Illinois to join [Mary's] brothers in Hancock county.

At present we have no evidence of Mary's burial location, but we suspect Yetter Cemetery is her final resting place; her marker, if one was erected, could be one of many now crumbling or lost entirely in the passage of years.  William and Mary's daughter, Mary A. Long, died in September of 1835, aged 2 years, and she was buried at Yetter Cemetery.

There remains an open question regarding the identity of the second male child from the 1840 census; at that time he was between 0 and 4 years of age, hence born as early as 1835.  No second son is mentioned in any documentation of this Long family.

The son who was surely born to William and Mary was Levi Long, who remained in Hancock County for the rest of his life.  Like his father, Levi lost his first wife at an early age.  He remarried and enjoyed many subsequent years of marriage, becoming the father of eleven children.

A listing for William Long's household in the 1850 Federal Census has not been found.  We have searched with due diligence, exploring every reasonable possibility and have not located this family.

The children of William Long and Mary Yetter were:

i.	Levi Long, born March 13, 1832, in Pennsylvania.  He died September 28, 1905, in Hancock Township, Hancock County, Illinois, in the home where he had spent most of his life.  He was buried at nearby Majorville Cemetery, also in Hancock Township.
ii.	Mary A. Long, born about 1833, died 1835, interment at the Yetter Cemetery.

William's second wife, Mary, a few years older than William, was born about 1799 in Pennsylvania. They were married on September 6, 1838.  Named in both the 1880 biography and William's obituary as the former Mary W. Giphart, note that the marriage license was prepared with the surname Gepford.  Marriage Documents

The timing of this marriage carries no significant weight, but it does deserve a moment's consideration.  More often than not in that era, a widower with a young child or children remarried somewhat quickly.

In 1840 there were three purchases by William Long recorded by the land office at Quincy.  He bought from the government two parcels totaling a little over 80 acres in Sections 6 and 17 of Hancock Township, and another 40 acres in adjacent Pilot Grove Township.  View a representation of those purchases.  Return to this page with your browser button.

According to the Gregg biography and Levi Long's obituary, in 1844 William purchased 160 acres in section 8 of Hancock Township, and that was the Long homeplace at least until Levi's death in 1905.

Mary Giphart Long died May 21, 1872, probably in Hancock Township, and was buried at the Yetter Cemetery.  William survived her by almost 14 years, burial at Yetter Cemetery.

Household of William Long
Males 0 thru 4 - 1     [??]
Males 5 thru 9 - 1     [Levi]
Males 30 thru 39 - 1     [William]
Females 30 thru 39 - 1     [Mary Giphart Long]
Total - 4
Persons employed in agriculture - 1

William Long, 50, male, farmer, value of real estate 5000, value of personal estate 800, born PA
Mary, 60, female, born PA
John, 28, male, farmer, born PA [Levi]

Family 13
Long, William, 62, male, white, farmer, value of real estate 5000, value of personal estate 800, born PA, male citizen of the U. S. aged 21 or more
Mary W, 69, female, white, keeping house, born PA

Family 14
Long, Levi, 38, male, white, farmer, value of real estate 1600, value of personal estate 800, born PA, male, citizen of the U. S. aged 21 or more
Sarah, 24, female, white, keeping house, born IL
Ellen, 6, female, white, born IL, attended school within the year
William, 5, male, white, born IL
Maggie, 2, female, white, born IL
[Son Reuben, born in 1866, is missing from this listing, but his name appears on the last line of this page, within the household of Joseph Spangler: Long, Reuben, 4, male, white, born IL]

Long, Levi, white, male, 48, married, farmer, born PA, both parents born PA
Sarah E, white, female, 33, wife, married, keeping house, born PA, both parents born PA
Mary E, white, female, 16, daughter, single, keeping house, attended school within the year, born IL, both parents born PA
William L, white, male, 15, son, single, farmer, attended school within the year, born IL, both parents born PA
Reuben H, white, male, 13, son, single, farmer, attended school within the year, born IL, both parents born PA
Margaret F, white, female, 12, daughter, single, keeping house, attended school within the year, born IL, both parents born PA
Bertha S, white, female, 10, daughter, single, attended school within the year, born IL, both parents born PA
John N, white, male, 7, son, single, attended school within the year, born IL, both parents born PA
Charles F, white, male, 5, son, single, attended school within the year, born IL, both parents born PA
Anna L L, white, female, 2, daughter, single, born IL, both parents born PA
William, 72, white, male, father, widower, farmer, born PA, both parents born PA
Kluckner, William, white, male, 21, single, laborer, months unemployed - 3, born PA, both parents born PA
Ballard, Wiram [sic], white, male, 27, single, laborer, months unemployed - 4, born IL, both parents born PA
Emmings, Ida, white, female, 17, servant, attended school within the year, born IL, father born MO, mother born PA
Wilson, John, white, male, 3 [sic], single, laborer [sic], born PA, both parents born PA
Paterson, Marion, white, male, 21, single, laborer, born MO, both parents born MO